Need A New Gas Pack

[Joe Johnson]

My 15 yo Trane died this morning. I am in the process of getting quotes. Any thoughts about brands to stay away from? I am not looking for a top SEER unit. I will probably go with a 13 or 15 SEER. Thanks

[Marc]

I avoid Carrier residential, but only because I'm a serviceman and Carrier resid is the biggest pain in the neck I've ever known to service. I wouldn't buy Trane either, for similar reason.

Carrier commercial are good units.

It's been said before on this forum that quality of installation is often more important than choice of brand and I agree.

Marc

[Jim Katen]

My 15 yo Trane died this morning. I am in the process of getting quotes. Any thoughts about brands to stay away from? I am not looking for a top SEER unit. I will probably go with a 13 or 15 SEER. Thanks

I really dislike Goodman & Amana & Janitrol. I know, I know, they've gotten better over the years, they have great warranties, etc, etc. I still don't like them.

I also dislike York. The finshes on the equipment begin to fall apart in a year or two. I've looked at 5-year old York units and thought they were 20-years old.

Stay away from Nordyne and its ilk. They're just cheap.

I like Rheem & Ruud stuff, personally. They've had minor hiccups over the years, but they produced consistently good products.

Likewise for Carrier (Bryant, Payne, Day & Night, etc) and Trane (American Standard). It's basically good stuff.

Lennox is good as well, but tends to use more brand-specific parts and less off-the-shelf stuff. (Actually, I'm not sure that that's true anymore. It was true 10-20 years ago.)

When I see really old equipment that's still working well, it's always Rheem/Ruud, Lennox, Carrier (etc), or Trane (Amer Std).

I've never seen a really old, but still working well Janitrol or Goodman unit of any kind.

And every time I see a really old Amana unit, the damn thing isn't working properly. In fact, I'm not sure that I've ever seen an Amana unit of any kind that was working properly.

Of course, choose the installer first. He's the most important part.

[Scottpat]

Trane and Am Standard seem to be good units. I'm having a harder time knocking Goodman units simply because I have one that it going on 7 years and it has been problem free. For the dollars I really think that Goodman deserves a looksee.

[Joe Johnson]

I had one contractor give me a quote over the phone on 3 different units. All 2 1/2 ton units. I forgot to ask the SEER but assume its 13 based on the price. Of course I am waiting on more quotes and will confirm everything before the purchase but for now I have something to go on.

Goodman - $3600 - 10 yrs on parts

Carrier - $4200 - 5 yrs on parts

Trane - $4500 - 5 yrs on parts

[Robert Jones]

When we purchased our home last summer, we put in a heat pump with a gas furnace back up source. Because of the price and warranty, I went with Goodman. It seems the brand had issues in the past but has gotten better. 10 year warranty and it came in 2.5-3k less than a Carrier or Am Standard. Due to the size of the home, we had to go with a 5 ton unit. The furnace is rated at 95% efficiency. Had the old one hauled away and the new system installed for $9k cash.

[ericwlewis]

just replaced my 20yr old Trane (furnace only) with a Goodman. It cost me less than $800 and 3.75 hrs to do it myself.